Home Truths
by fee-kh
Summary: Sara gets a visit from an old friend. Made some changes to chapter one, so might want to reread that first and added chapter two. Enjoy and R
1. Preparations

Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me. All I own is books and nobody takes those. Nothing to get here.

A/N1: Let me see if I can get this straight on paper. When I went away to uni, I changed, personality wise, but when I was back home I acted the same around old friends, which really irritated me at the time. So that is the impetus for this story. Imagining what Sara's friends from San Francisco would think if they saw her in Vegas. And I am not too happy with the way her character is progressing on the show. She manages to make something of her life after her beginnings but is too weak to deal with it later? Please! Give the girl a break and let her grow. And get over Grissom. Just a minor wish.

I am not exactly sure where to put this. The seasons are all jumbled here in Germany, but I have a vague memory in which Sara is pulled off a case and puts up a fight. Catherine's reaction is what is in the text below. At the time I found it unnecessarily harsh. If someone could tell me what episode it was I would be grateful, but this is definitely AU from then on.

In case somebody wants an idea for musical underscoring, go with Chariot by Gavin DeGraw. That's what I listen to when I'm writing at the moment. That or anything by Snow Patrol. Great Album.

A.N.2: I changed a couple of things in this chapter to make it fit in better with True to your heart. This fic brackets that story. You don't have to have read the other one, but it helps.

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Home truths.

It had been a long day, Sara reflected. A very long day. Cases to do with battery and abuse always got to her more than most. It did not help when her superior, the high and mighty Grissom pulled her off the case and sent her packing to deal with a minor breaking and entering. That had galled. What had gotten to her more though, was the comment she had just managed to hear while leaving.

Grissom sighed: "You think I was too tough?"

Catherine scoffed: "Not tough enough. She has to learn that the almighty Sidle can not pick and chose as she sees fit. Needs to be taken down a peg or two."

Sara had stopped listening at that point, refusing to let anybody see how Catherine's words had struck her. Crying in public was not an option, as was going back in and calling her on it. Sara had learned a long time ago that showing your emotions rarely helped and often only made things worse. Showing a bully that they got to you was a sure-fire way to get them to torment you more. Not that Catherine was anywhere near the bullies Sara had met while in the system in San Francisco. Those could have made Hitler look like a kindergarten teacher when it came to emotional and physical torment.

Catherine had no idea what she was talking about. There was reason for Sara to be passionate about certain types of crime, the one's that hit too close to home. The one's that reminded her what could have been. The one's that reminded her why she had become a CSI in the first place. Why she had decided that if she could do nothing to prevent these things from happening, at least she could find out the how and the why and maybe prevent an again.

Not that anybody ever asked her why some things got to her when others didn't. Nobody seemed to care enough. Only judgements were made.

"It is not up to you to decide which case you can take."

"Geez, Sara. Lighten up."

"Why are you such a workaholic?"

"You're making the rest of us look bad."

"You're just a replacement. If Holly hadn't died you wouldn't even be here."

That grated the most. Nothing she had done over the last two years seemed to count for these people. She doubted anybody but Grissom knew where she lived. And he would have to check his files. Anyone new to the lab would think she had only transferred the month before. In fact that had happened. A police officer from Reno had been at the lab for a week, observing procedure. During one particularly fraught case he had told her quite kindly that 'once you've been in Vegas longer these things won't get to you as much.' He had been genuinely, and in Sara's eyes sadly, surprised to learn that she had been there for a lot longer than a month.

Shaking off her dismal thoughts, Sara squared her shoulders ad waltzed into break room. Pasting a light-hearted grin on her face, she plopped down on the sofa next to Warrick, managing not to flinch when the CSI slid ever so slightly away from her. Swallowing yet another sigh, Sara turned to face him and began the usual banter, concerning how the case went. After five minutes of listening to Warrick brag how well he had done and figured things out way before Nick (There was another man seriously misunderstood, Sara mused to herself), she felt able to stand up and announce that she was calling it a night, or more likely a day as it were.

"You know what? I'm going to head home. Congratulations on your case, Warrick."

Warrick absentmindedly waved a hand, then collected himself: "Oh yeah, how did yours go? Homicide wasn't it?"

'A particularly awful triple homicide, if you must know, with almost no clues to speak of solved in record time.' That's what she thought, what came out of her mouth however was more like: "Yeah. Went well. Suspect's confessing down the hall right now."

"Good, good. Then I'll see you tomorrow night." Warrick was already zoning over to whatever he thought about.

Sara smirked to herself. "Actually you won't. I'm taking a couple of days off. Get rid of my overtime."

Warrick sat up straight. "You're taking days off. You never do that."

'Yeah, like you'd know. My life has never interested you, before why should it now.' Again only thoughts.

"Yes I do. Two, three days every month." Sara managed to paste a smile on her face even while she said it.

Warrick smirked. "Oh is it that time of the month again?" He sniggered, clearly pleased with himself.

Sara grimaced - on the inside of course -, said nothing and made her way to the exit, her car and finally, finally home.

The sun was just coming up when Sara pulled into her driveway. All of a sudden, tiredness seemed to sweep her body, making getting out of the car seem like way to much effort. A tap on her window had her jumping up with a start. Turning her head, she saw Miss Maxine from across the road. For the first time that day a genuine smile came over her. Rolling down her window, she said: "Good morning Miss Maxine. You're up early."

Miss Maxine smiled. "Well, sweetie. I just couldn't sleep anymore. You know today my granddaughter graduates. I'm just much too excited."

"Of course. Had slipped my mind. And how did Jasmine do?"

" In the top ten percent.. She is so pleased. Who would have thought things would turn out this way?"

Sara smiled again. "Jasmine's a fighter and she's got you. What more do you need?"

Miss Maxine blushed. "So sweet of you to say that. We couldn't have done it without you. Now don't you forget that this afternoon we are going to have a small glass of champagne to celebrate."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Give Jasmine my love, will you."

"Of course, now you go off and rest. Must have been a long night for you."

"Yes, it was. I'll see you this afternoon."

Giving Miss Maxine a last smile and wave, Sara let herself into her house. On the way to the kitchen she pushed the button on the answering machine.

Beep

You have six new messages

Beep

"Hi, Ryan here. Call me back."

Beep

"Sara! Phone Ryan right now."

Beep

"Marie again. Sorry for yelling. Forgot you were at work. Phone us."

Beep

"My wife's crazy. You know that, right?"

Beep

"Auntie Sara? Please phone Mummy."

'Emotional blackmail,' Sara mused. 'Marie learned fast.'

Beep

"Emotional blackmail. Haha! I learn fast. Phone me when you get in. We have to talk travel plans."

Beep

End of messages

"Travel plans," Sara though out loud. "will have to wait until I've had some sleep."

Several comatose hours later, Sara stumbled out of bed. A long shower took her a long way towards feeling human again, as did the first cup of coffee that day. She finally felt ready to face Marie and consorten.

"Hello, Samuel's residence. Marie speaking."

Sara smiled to herself and couldn't resist just the smallest jab.

"Residence, is it? When did you become so snobby?"

Since you left you feckless slob." Marie laughed. "I've missed you. Visits just aren't enough. And the last one was almost six months ago. When will we see you again?"

Sara sighed. "I don't know when I can leave here. There's so much work."

"Come on! Dead bodies don't run away. So it takes somebody else a little while longer to find the suspect. Big deal. You need a break."

"You know why I can't do that."

"I know." A sigh echoed down the line. "You know one day you are going to have to start getting over that." Marie's voice was gentle.

"Well, until then I just go along as before, right?"

"Well, not quite. Which is why we are visiting. I want to see this place you work in, plus Ryan's really hot on the slots and the strippers. Not that he will get within ten feet of the latter. But I let him dream."

The two friends shared a laugh. After all, dreaming was allowed.

"You know that when you come, I may not have a lot of time for you guys."

"Yeah, right. Like you can resist the emotional blackmail of one Susie Samuels. Stronger people have tried and failed. The power of the pout is unparalleled."

"Maybe we should hire her to get confessions from the suspects. Bet they'd never see that one coming."

"Don't I know it. Fiend of the candy aisle she is. So I was thinking next month? That okay with you? I know you take a couple of days off so just make sure that it when we come. And then I wont have to sic Susie on you."

"Threats. Nothing but threats. But yeah that sounds good. Will give me time to finish unpacking the guestroom."

Marie's voice took on a worried tone. "You still haven't finished? Sweetie, you've been there two years."

"Yeah, I know. But never seemed to have the time. And you know I don't really have time when I go off for a couple of days either."

"How is the program going anyway?"

"Well, kinda slow, it's hard to get the right people together, but on the plus side Jasmine is graduating today."

"Oh good for her. She was one of the first, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, I'm really proud. Pity I can't make the ceremony. But I have a couple of appointments."

They drifted off into small talk, finalising the plans for Marie's family's visit and then hung up with many fond farewells. On a whole it did more to relax Sara than anything else she could have planned.


	2. Out of the mouths of babes

Disclaimer: nothings changed, still don't own CSI in any way shape or form.

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Chapter 2

Four weeks later, Marie's visit with her family was looming on the horizon. While Sara couldn't wait to see them, there was also a kind of sick fear in the pit of her belly. She was afraid to see what Marie would have to say about the changes in her, her character and her life. And she would have a lot to say. There was no doubt about it. Another part of her was looking forward to the showdown. Marie never minced her words when she felt that something was wrong. And she could get very protective.

Giving herself a mental boot to the bum, Sara gathered her wits. There was nothing she could do now. The rooms had been prepared, she had left the extra key in the hide-a-key outside and a note with Miss Maxine, should there be problems.

As the evening wore on, with no major cases to take her mind off things, Sara was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate on anything but hiding her rising excitement. Greg had been giving her weird looks every time she waltzed into his lab and chatter with him. At midnight, with a decided lack of murders or crimes to take her mind off things, Sara actually asked Grissom if she could look at old files, see if anything new had come up.

The paperwork kept her occupied for the rest of the shift.

The end was finally coming into view, when Lorraine called her from the front desk.

"Sara. There are people here asking for you."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."

Nick walked down the corridor, immersed in the evidence Greg had just passed on to him regarding a shoot and run. He was barely paying attention to his surroundings, when an extremely girly shriek echoed through the halls, causing everybody to stop in their tracks and look around.

"What was that?" Confused, Nick looked around. Unlike most others, he was in the perfect position to see the scene unfold.

There in the entrance area was Sara Sidle, embracing a hulk of a man, while a young woman with a toddler in her arms looked on indulgently. Then Sara 'bounced' - Nick just had to do a double-take at that, Sara did not bounce!- out of the hulk's arms and plucked the child from her mother's arms. Nick took a step forward, expecting the child to burst into tears right that second.

He was gob-smacked again when instead the little tot burst into giggles and held onto Sara so tightly, Nick could have sworn it would be difficult to breath.

He could just make out what the group was saying.

"She's been asking about the trip for the last two weeks. When are we going? When are we going?"

"I'm amazed she still remembers me."

"After all the letters and tapes? She loves 'The Selfish Princess' by the way. Listens to it every night."

Nick watched in amazement as the unflappable Sara blushed with pleasure. Feeling as if he was intruding, he turned and snuck back down the corridor, reflecting to himself that he of all people should know best that first impressions weren't everything.

Sara couldn't believe that Ryan and Marie had decided to surprise her. She couldn't wait to leave and see what happened next.

"Give me a moment and I'll tell Grissom that I'm off. I have so much overtime he should be pathetically grateful."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara could see Lorraine's eyes fairly pop out of her head. She knew what the receptionist was thinking. Sara Sidle did not take off early. EVER. Well, there was a first time for everything.

Two minutes later Sara waltzed into Grissom's office. "Grissom. I'm taking off early. Working off a bit of overtime. There's nothing left to do, so I'll see you in a week. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a wink and tickled pink with herself at her audacity Sara sashayed out the door.

All Grissom could do was nod and stare dumbfounded as Sara left his office as swiftly as she had come in.

"All set. Let's go." Sara walked up to Marie and Ryan, scooping up Susie along the way. "First off some coffee. Excitement only takes you so far. We have so much talking to do."

"Well, we saw a Starbucks on the way here, Let's go there and I can pore a double espresso down your throat, Sassy." Ryan ruffled her hair, then considered. "Well, maybe four double espressos. If you still drink as much coffee as before you left, one will not be enough."

"You know it." Sara laughed. After a quick detour to grab her things from the locker room, Sara and the Samuels gladly left the lab to head on to the coffee shop down the road, leaving behind a workplace buzzing with rumours.

"Auntie Sara, can I have a cheesecake?" Susie smiled up winningly at her victim, putting all the power of persuasion she could muster from her little body into the smile.

Sara gulped, then decided what the hell. "Of course you can, Sweetie. After all this is a holiday. We'll just tell your mom it's for me but I'm not that hungry. Deal?"

Susie giggled. "Deal. Can I carry it, too?"

"Only if you're really careful and make sure you do not spill anything, right?"

"Uhuh." Susie started bouncing from heel to toe as they waited for the queue to shift, so they could order. Then she burst out with: "Auntie Sara, why are you so thin? Mommy says you're really thin. Don't you get enough food?" She frowned up at Sara, who blushed.

"Well, sweetie, I'm really busy. Sometimes I forget to eat."

"That's not good. Mommy says you have to eat reglar meals and not too much peanut butter and jelly. But vegibles."

"You mean vegetables?"

"Yeah, them. I don't like them. Peas are icky. They're so green and taste weird. But Mommy says I have to eat them. Is it because you don't live with your Mummy anymore?"

Sara was shocked for a second. "Is what because I don't live with my mummy anymore, sweetie?"

"That you don't eat? When I come back from kindergarten mommy always has a sandwich for me. And apples. I like apples."

"You do, do you? Well, maybe we should get apple cake instead. What do you think?"

"Cool! Can we have two forks?"

As Susie pressed her nose flat against the cake cabinet, Sara reflected that the old saying about the mouth of babes seemed to be true after all. It was a sad state of affairs if she needed a small child to tell her what to eat.

"Come on we'll get a piece of cake for everybody. Your daddy still like chocolate?" Sara smiled to herself, of course Ryan still liked chocolate. He had practically lived off the stuff back when they were in the foster homes. When he could get his hands on it that was. Chocolate had not exactly been on the menu back then as an everyday occurrence. More's the pity.

That first day with her best friend and his family was the most relaxing day Sara had had for along time. After having coffee and cake for breakfast, the Samuel's had gone exploring while she caught up on some sleep. She was finally woken by Susie stage-whispering to her dad that 'Auntie Sara's still sleeping'. As Susie had not concept of a real whisper, it came out quite loud.

"It's okay sweetie, I'm up." Sara groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Yay, you're up!" With one jump Susie plopped herself down on the middle of Sara's bed, bouncing with excitement. "Can we go to the zoo, now? Can we? You promised."

"That I did munchkin. Why don't you tell your dad he had better have some coffee for me or else and I'll go jump in the shower and get dressed."

"Okay. Bye." Susie pressed a slightly slobbery kiss to Sara's cheek and bounced off the bed to no doubt pass along Sara's message verbatim. With a slow stretch, Sara got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

With an exhausted groan, Sara let herself fall on her couch, slipped her shoes off in the process. "God, I'd forgotten how tired Susie can make you. How do you handle it day after day?"

An amused Ryan smiled at her, Susie draped limply over his shoulder, dead to the world. "Practice makes perfect, Sassy. Or you're just getting old." He winked at her, ignoring the show she listlessly threw after him as he went to put down his little girl.

Marie let her head fall to the side. "Don't get too comfortable girl. You have some serious 'splainin to do."

Sara sighed knowing what her best friend was going to want to talk about but choosing to pretend ignorance. "What do you mean?"

Fire flashed in her friend's eyes. "Don't give me that, Sidle. I have known you since forever and if anyone knows when you are lying it is me. But okay, let's humour you. We'll start with the slow and move on to the hard. Why did it take you two years to finish unpacking?"

Sara blushed. "I'm really busy?"

Marie rolled her eyes. "You're lucky Ryan isn't here, cause he would give you a tap on the head for that. The last time you didn't bother unpacking was ten years ago when you knew you were leaving again six months later. So either you are moving house or you never considered Vegas your home. Which is it?"

"I don't know. I just never got round to it. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal, but lets move on to something else. Why do you look like you haven't slept properly in months, don't eat right and seem to have lost ten pounds that you really didn't need to loose?"

"That's what I was wondering, too." A male voice added from the door.

Sara shifted nervously under the combined weight of their worried faces. "I just never think of it. Or I'm too busy.."

"Or there's a case that just has to be finished. Or you're working overtime. Again. Don't give me that. We have had this conversation a thousand times." Ryan said tiredly. "I worry about you here all on your own. What do your colleagues think?"

Sara looked panicked. "What do you mean? Why should they say anything?"

Ryan and Marie shared a look, obviously things in Vegas were more off than they had thought. In an unspoken debate they decided that tonight would be about reconnecting with their sister, the nagging could wait.

"What you mean to tell me that there is no-one there who tickles your interest. What about that Greg guy that you keep mentioning."

Sara went a fiery pink and stammered. "He's just a friend. Plus he's way to young."

Marie sniggered. "Hah, that's what you always say. Don't tell me you're still hung up on that funny bug guy?"

Sara laughed. "You mean Grissom. No, just my boss. There is truth in the saying familiarity breads contempt. He is just way too into his bugs and is even more of a workaholic than I am."

The three of them laughed and spent the rest of the evening dissecting Sara's various colleagues and telling tall tales about their lives.


	3. All work and no play

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed. I only own this in my dreams. Sigh.

A/N: As mentioned before you needn't have read True to your heart to understand this, but it helps, especially as this is the last chapter that happens before that tale. The next chapter will be dealing with the aftermath.

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Chapter 3: All work and no play…

It was with a heavy heart that Sara walked back into work, much as a child does after a long fun-filled weekend.

The week spent with her family had both relaxed and saddened her. Relaxed because they were fun and loved her, calmed her down and let her expend some of the tension that had built in the two years she had spent working in Vegas. Saddened, for seeing her 'new' self reflected in their eyes had been a sobering experience. She realised that she had changed more than she had thought and not in a good way. Yes, her work had driven her in San Francisco just as much as it had here in Vegas, but there had been balance. Days spent lying on the beach, free evenings - and when was the last time she really had one of those prior to her family's visit- spent at the movies or the theatre. Above all there had been her circle of friends and her family.

And she could turn her work persona off. Walking along the streets of San Francisco, watching the people laughing and enjoying the sunshine, it was easy to see why you did what you did. There was relief from the horrors and desperation you saw during your working hours.

The same could not be said for Vegas. Not for nothing did people say that any and every vice could and would be fulfilled here. Never mind the higher crime rate, in a city built around and for the casinos it was not possible to relax. The lights were too bright, the contrasts too glaring, an air of desperation in the eyes of all the gamblers speaking more of fortunes lost than won. It was a harsh ad unforgiving place. Maybe that was why Sara never really felt at home there.

In all honesty she no longer knew why she had come in the first place. Well, that wasn't precisely true. She was fully aware why she had followed Grissom's summons, an odd mixture of flattered pride and infatuation.

She had always had a thing for the intellectual type.. And Grissom could be very passionate when talking about bugs, it was her mistake to assume that that passion would translate into other areas of his life. Deep in her heart she had already known this before coming to Vegas. However the rational voice inside her had been drowned out by the sheer pleasure of being personally requested as investigator by one of the most eminent crime scene investigators in the country. The position every csi would give their right hand for. And she had got it.

In the heat of the moment it had been easy to leave everything behind, uproot her life, give away her cat and move from the water to the desert. She hadn't realised or maybe hadn't wanted to realise how much she had left behind and sacrificed on the altar of her career. At least until Marie had come and rather vociferously called her on it. Maybe it was time for a change.

"Hey Sara!" Warrick's angry voice pulled her from her thoughts. Surprised, she turned and waited for him to catch up. He seemed mad, though she was hard put to figure out why seeing as she hadn't been in at all in the last couple of days and to her knowledge there were no unresolved issues between them.

By that time Warrick had caught up with her. "Where the hell have you been? I called you on Friday. You were supposed to come in and take over."

Sara furrowed her brow. She vaguely remembered the message on her answer machine but had dismissed it as a joke.

"Warrick, you phoned and stated you wanted me to come in and take over, because you had 'quote' met a hot chick."

"So, where were you?"

"I had a one-week holiday remember. I said goodbye to everybody the day I left."

"So what were you doing that was so important, Sara? Painting your toenails?"

She could only stare at him in disbelief. Was he serious? It saddened her that a long-time colleague thought so little of her.

"You know? Whatever!" Warrick groused. "Serves me right for calling you." And with last insult he turned and stalked off, presumably to greener pastures.

Sara sighed to herself and shrugged.

"What got his knickers in a twist?" A new voice asked behind her.

Sara turned once more, a beautiful smile already forming on her face, striking the young man behind her dumb with amazement.

"Hey, Greggo." She tilted her head at him, for the first time really looking at him. It had surprised her how much she had missed him while she way away. He never failed to brighten her day with his weird habits and quips. Pity he was so young.

"Ah, you know. Warrick got pissed because I didn't come running when he snapped his fingers and couple of days ago."

Now it was Greg's turn to frown. "I thought you were on holiday?"

She beamed at him once more, unconsciously making his week. "Yeah, I was."

"Ah well, water under the bridge. Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

"Hmm, there was this one case. A stoned up ex-hippie found a glowing body in the desert. Tried to converse with it for a while, but eventually came down and ran screaming for the nearest policeman. Funny as hell, apparently. The squad were still laughing about it when Nick and Catherine arrived on the scene."

Sara giggled. "Glowing huh? Must be a real interesting explanation."

Greg grinned. "Turned out the guy was growing glow in the dark Chinese fungi and got wasted while harvesting them. And then Nick fell right into the pile as well."

Sara burst out laughing. "Damn, I wish I'd seen that."

He fidgeted for a second then screwed up his courage and went for broke. "Look, Sara, you just came in and maybe you want a coffee. Do you want a coffee? Cause I just made a fresh pot and if you want some coffee then you could - have some", he finished lamely, mentally berating himself for his utter lack of suaveness. But then again Sara seemed to have that effect on him.

Sara smiled once more. "Sure Greg. Coffee sounds good. Lead the way. And you can tell me more about Nick and the magic mushrooms."

There was an extra bounce in Greg's step as he followed Sara to the break room, quite happy to postpone some of Warrick's evidence. It wasn't really urgent and the moron had been mean to Sara.

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Nick once more blindly walked down the hallway, coffee in one hand, stack of printouts in the other. Sometimes it felt that this was all he ever did. Endlessly walking around, solving crimes, putting the perps behind bars, some more walking around. Realistically he knew that this was not true. But it certainly felt like it sometimes. Crime scene followed crime scene, murder followed murder with no end in sight as if there was a bottomless pit of depravity bubbling beneath the streets of Vegas, repaying all they put away with interest.

He missed the open vistas of his home with an almost physical ache, the wide expanses that streamed towards the horizon where earth met sky. He had had to leave, couldn't stay where he would never be more than the youngest son of the Stokes clan, lost in the shadow of airforce brothers and doctor sisters. He'd wanted to make something of himself and had gone against the wishes of his mother and family, had moved east to the city that was open 24/7. To the bright lights of Vegas.

Maybe it was time to leave before he was forced to pay a price he couldn't afford.

Nick stopped in his tracks as he heard a completely unknown sound and confusedly looked around searching for the source. Then he saw it. Sara laughing a full out belly laugh, holding her sides as if they ached from the motion. She was sitting with Greg in the break room, the man beside her beaming as he watched her laugh. Nick had the odd sensation that he knew what it was that Greg had been telling here. But then again he had had a chuckle about the magic mushroom thing himself, one he was showered and didn't feel itchy all over anymore.

It struck him, that work had been quieter and to be honest much more boring while Sara was away on her holiday. Looking at her though she had deserved it, she looked relaxed in a way he had never seen

He'd missed her storming about the place bringing a passion to her work rarely seen otherwise. It was a delight to see, although he worried sometimes that she would burn out. That passion could only burn so long. But maybe that was one of the reasons Greg made such an effort to cheer her up.

Shrugging his shoulders, Nick focussed back on his case with a much lighter heart, a spring in his step that had been missing before.

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The day had turned out not half bad, Sara reflected later that night. For once nobody had been murdered, and they had been kept busy with old cases and a small heist in the jewellery district, that had turned into an insurance scam. Slow night in all. She had been able to spend some time just talking with Nick and Greg. Joking around. Warrick still wasn't talking to her and Catherine was apparently away with her father for the night. Now shift was nearly over and barring any catastrophes she could-

"Sara! Get in here." Her boss called.

Sara silently admonished herself. She should have known better than to rely on fate not to throw a wrench in the plans.

"Coming."

"Bring Greg with you." Came the surprising response from Grissom.

After collecting the lab tech, Sara joined the others in the break room, waiting to be told what the rush was for.

Grissom looked tired, one hand rubbing his forehead. "Slow nights over." He ignored the moans from his teams and continued. "Day shift can't take over, so it is up to us. Nick and Warrick, you guys have a break-in that turned nasty over on the east side. I am taking the museum heist at the Marriott. Which leaves a murder for Sara on Henderson. Greg, you wanted in the field, this is your chance. Three vics, Sara needs help. Get to it."

Greg shared an incredulously happy smile with Sara.

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And that my friends is where you should move on over to True to your heart to find out what happens next. There are some idiosyncracies but I am getting to those soon, so don't let it bother you too much. And as always, please let me know what you think. Sayonara.


End file.
